One of the two stores in my area is running in store events right now, so I can see them running some kind of pre-release for Zendikar Rising. I think that we'll probably get more information in regards to what will happen with these events over the next few weeks, as the events will probably be late September.
I think that'll depend on one thing: schools.
Schools will be back in session in the next five weeks, and given the piss-poor plans to reopen them, outbreaks are inevitable. Despite rhetoric to the contrary, kids aren't immune and can serve as convenient spreaders, and reopening schools without the resources to do so safely just so parents can get back to work and the economy can look better in time for elections later in the fall is doomed to failure. Once that happens, the smartest play would be to go back into lockdown, with nonessential businesses like LGSs being closed again. I don't know if Zendikar events will be able to run, or if they'll be safe to attend if they do. A spike in cases due to schools opening again that doesn't become apparent until October may not trigger lockdowns that disrupt prereleases, but that might even be worse in some ways.
One way or another, though, LGSs are going to get rolled. Either by a new lockdown, or by decreased sales/play. Even if, by some miracle, there are no outbreaks related to schools (though kid-related outbreaks are already happening, and they had similar issues overseas when countries opened schools again), the pandemic isn't going away and a second wave is predicted in the USand Canada.
I live in the capital city and I was talking about that, just the store that closed was in the country.
Federally sure politics is trash, ours isn't great but at least took COVID threat seriously since March. I am suggesting you go to your State and even local governments they are much more responsive to citizens. They need to keep their small business running or they might never recover.
How to stop the spread: 2 months lockdown, everything except supermarkets/pharmacies closed, 2 person groups only, mask orders. I am not sure if the USA constitution allows the closing of state boarders, but there needs to be people checking every single border and giving out 2 week stay at home orders.
Once you stop community spread you can start testing and carefully tracking sporadic outbreaks that will continue. locking down apartments and suburbs following the persons travel history to find where they got it from. Test and Track. just doing testing isn't enough you need to track where they got it from. The testing needs to be free or people won't get it done.
A further 2 months of slowly allowing more businesses to open and larger groups to meet.
The economy is just gone its too late to save it, forget it! save lives instead. You effectively need to hibernate the economy until the emergency is over. No rent, no rates, no power or water bills, no one gets fired but everything is closed. You need to have your local small business to still be there when you get out of lockdown so their bills need to go away until they can open. The economy is dead just go into however much debt is required to solve the problem, doing nothing or doing a huge amount are both bad but only once saves lives.
Leaders in failed states don't care about people, just siphoning off as much value as they can while they still can.
Though, that does impact MtG as people aren't going to have as much disposable income and many will need to prioritize what they spend their limited resources on. Last I checked, the Senate took a recess rather than figure out what to do in regards to supporting people out of work or experiencing a drop in income due to covid. And the impending eviction crisis will compound that with tens of millions at risk of losing their homes. I don't find it illogical that luxury products sales will suffer.
Did MtG sales dip through the spring? Are sales rebounding this summer with things reopening? I've seen conflicting reports (evidently Q1 revenues were up, but covid really only struck in the last slice of that quarter so Q2 sales will be the better datapoint). Q3 may see that uptick with reopens shifting perception, but I do wonder how the unemployment and housing crises may have blunted the MtG sales recovery.
Not sure If anyone's heard about this yet however there were some YouTube videos recently of a group of doctors in front of the U.S. Supreme Court including Stella Immanuel claiming that she had cured COVID-19 in 350 patients at her clinic using a combination of hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, and zinc and that public health measures such as wearing face masks and social distancing were no longer necessary. Apparently the antimalarial medication hydroxychloroquine had previously had its emergency use authorization for COVID-19 removed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which said it had not been proven to be an effective treatment for the virus. Even If it hadn't been proven yet that still doesn't give them the right to silence these doctors from getting the information out there to test whether or not If it is an effective treatment against COVID-19.
Do you think that passes the smell test? Demon sperm, my dude, demon sperm. And whatever scientific arguments they tried to make have been thoroughly debunked.
Right now, wizards/distributors might be pushing the end of LGS too.
My local store got 4 boxes of Jumpstart at release out of 32 ordered. Promised to get 40 week two. In last two weeks, they have gotten zero.
Meantime, Walmart/Targets have been getting 30-50 per store.
The question brought up, do they send to big box stores since they know they can pay, but deprive LGS of the ability to make sales Resulting in failure?
With no tournaments, sales limited, but without product, no sales.
Did MtG sales dip through the spring? Are sales rebounding this summer with things reopening? I've seen conflicting reports (evidently Q1 revenues were up, but covid really only struck in the last slice of that quarter so Q2 sales will be the better datapoint). Q3 may see that uptick with reopens shifting perception, but I do wonder how the unemployment and housing crises may have blunted the MtG sales recovery.
There was a recent Hasbro Report stating that Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths was the best selling Spring set in the history of the brand though they were actually referring to sales on Arena / MTGO not Paper Magic. Nobody was really able to go to their Local Game Store (LGS) for In-Store Play Standard before Lurrus of the Dream-Den and Companion in general were causing a lot of problems in most competitive formats. The level of power creep in Standard is so bad right now that it'd probably take another rotation cycle after Zendikar Rising just to fix it. Oh they'll ban Growth Spiral but not Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath? Seriously Wizards?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
America Bless Christ Jesus
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Did MtG sales dip through the spring? Are sales rebounding this summer with things reopening? I've seen conflicting reports (evidently Q1 revenues were up, but covid really only struck in the last slice of that quarter so Q2 sales will be the better datapoint). Q3 may see that uptick with reopens shifting perception, but I do wonder how the unemployment and housing crises may have blunted the MtG sales recovery.
There was a recent Hasbro Report stating that Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths was the best selling Spring set in the history of the brand though they were actually referring to sales on Arena / MTGO not Paper Magic.
Indeed. Like I said, I think the overall picture from Q2 matches what we should have expected given the tens of millions in America alone unemployed (or otherwise seeing a reduction in income) due to covid. That is likely to continue even if LGSs are open, sadly.
So I finally returned to one of my Local Game Stores that I normally used to go to on Saturdays after a five month quarantine that is currently now operating at 25% capacity. As far as In-Store Play restrictions go it wasn't as bad as I initially thought it'd be however the Local Game Store / Comic Book Shop by my house still has In-Store Play in lock down til September especially since there's not as much overhead. Everyone's required to wear face masks / coverings while drink refills from the fountain machine don't seem to be a problem as it is at my work place. Arrows were placed on the floor to help customers practice social distancing near the retail checkout area. The only floors that were available were upstairs and the central area where as downstairs was closed due to lack of activity where they would normally have Organized Play for Pokémon.
Buying / Selling card singles don't seem to be as much of an issue however the employees stopped displaying older MTG singles in their showcase while only displaying newer MTG cards protected with glass coverings. Didn't see any tables with plexiglass installed though there was plenty of hand sanitizer for customers to use at the store. The store used to have two computers to place orders and sell cards on their website however they condensed it to one computer while also making room for their 3D Printer for making character models and figures for D&D and other Role-Playing Games. I did manage to get a few EDH / Commander games in while selling $50 worth of cards to help support my Local Game Store (LGS). One of my friends brought over his HD flat screen TV to play Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Pokémon Sword & Shield on his Nintendo Switch. I think we had at least 15-20 people that day.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
That's right, it took months and the theory was only around since early July but there seems to have been drastic confirmation by Summit that COVID-19 works in a VERY unusual way we didn't initially expect. The best news: we already have the drugs tested and approved that can stop it from killing people who end up hospitalized with it!
Earlier this summer, the Summit supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Lab in Tennessee set about crunching data on more than 40,000 genes from 17,000 genetic samples in an effort to better understand Covid-19. Summit is the second-fastest computer in the world, but the process — which involved analyzing 2.5 billion genetic combinations — still took more than a week. When Summit was done, researchers analyzed the results. It was, in the words of Dr. Daniel Jacobson, lead researcher and chief scientist for computational systems biology at Oak Ridge, a “eureka moment.” The computer had revealed a new theory about how Covid-19 impacts the body: the bradykinin hypothesis. The hypothesis provides a model that explains many aspects of Covid-19, including some of its most bizarre symptoms. It also suggests 10-plus potential treatments, many of which are already FDA approved. Jacobson’s group published their results in a paper in the journal eLife in early July.
According to the team’s findings, a Covid-19 infection generally begins when the virus enters the body through ACE2 receptors in the nose, (The receptors, which the virus is known to target, are abundant there.) The virus then proceeds through the body, entering cells in other places where ACE2 is also present: the intestines, kidneys, and heart. This likely accounts for at least some of the disease’s cardiac and GI symptoms. But once Covid-19 has established itself in the body, things start to get really interesting. According to Jacobson’s group, the data Summit analyzed shows that Covid-19 isn’t content to simply infect cells that already express lots of ACE2 receptors. Instead, it actively hijacks the body’s own systems, tricking it into upregulating ACE2 receptors in places where they’re usually expressed at low or medium levels, including the lungs. In this sense, Covid-19 is like a burglar who slips in your unlocked second-floor window and starts to ransack your house. Once inside, though, they don’t just take your stuff — they also throw open all your doors and windows so their accomplices can rush in and help pillage more efficiently.
The renin–angiotensin system (RAS) controls many aspects of the circulatory system, including the body’s levels of a chemical called bradykinin, which normally helps to regulate blood pressure. According to the team’s analysis, when the virus tweaks the RAS, it causes the body’s mechanisms for regulating bradykinin to go haywire. Bradykinin receptors are resensitized, and the body also stops effectively breaking down bradykinin. (ACE normally degrades bradykinin, but when the virus downregulates it, it can’t do this as effectively.) The end result, the researchers say, is to release a bradykinin storm — a massive, runaway buildup of bradykinin in the body. According to the bradykinin hypothesis, it’s this storm that is ultimately responsible for many of Covid-19’s deadly effects. Jacobson’s team says in their paper that “the pathology of Covid-19 is likely the result of Bradykinin Storms rather than cytokine storms,” which had been previously identified in Covid-19 patients, but that “the two may be intricately linked.” Other papers had previously identified bradykinin storms as a possible cause of Covid-19’s pathologies.
As bradykinin builds up in the body, it dramatically increases vascular permeability. In short, it makes your blood vessels leaky. This aligns with recent clinical data, which increasingly views Covid-19 primarily as a vascular disease, rather than a respiratory one. But Covid-19 still has a massive effect on the lungs. As blood vessels start to leak due to a bradykinin storm, the researchers say, the lungs can fill with fluid. Immune cells also leak out into the lungs, Jacobson’s team found, causing inflammation. And Covid-19 has another especially insidious trick. Through another pathway, the team’s data shows, it increases production of hyaluronic acid (HLA) in the lungs. HLA is often used in soaps and lotions for its ability to absorb more than 1,000 times its weight in fluid. When it combines with fluid leaking into the lungs, the results are disastrous: It forms a hydrogel, which can fill the lungs in some patients. According to Jacobson, once this happens, “it’s like trying to breathe through Jell-O.”
This may explain why ventilators have proven less effective in treating advanced Covid-19 than doctors originally expected, based on experiences with other viruses. “It reaches a point where regardless of how much oxygen you pump in, it doesn’t matter, because the alveoli in the lungs are filled with this hydrogel,” Jacobson says. “The lungs become like a water balloon.” Patients can suffocate even while receiving full breathing support. The bradykinin hypothesis also extends to many of Covid-19’s effects on the heart. About one in five hospitalized Covid-19 patients have damage to their hearts, even if they never had cardiac issues before. Some of this is likely due to the virus infecting the heart directly through its ACE2 receptors. But the RAS also controls aspects of cardiac contractions and blood pressure. According to the researchers, bradykinin storms could create arrhythmias and low blood pressure, which are often seen in Covid-19 patients.
The bradykinin hypothesis also accounts for Covid-19’s neurological effects, which are some of the most surprising and concerning elements of the disease. These symptoms (which include dizziness, seizures, delirium, and stroke) are present in as many as half of hospitalized Covid-19 patients. According to Jacobson and his team, MRI studies in France revealed that many Covid-19 patients have evidence of leaky blood vessels in their brains. Bradykinin — especially at high doses — can also lead to a breakdown of the blood-brain barrier. Under normal circumstances, this barrier acts as a filter between your brain and the rest of your circulatory system. It lets in the nutrients and small molecules that the brain needs to function, while keeping out toxins and pathogens and keeping the brain’s internal environment tightly regulated.
If bradykinin storms cause the blood-brain barrier to break down, this could allow harmful cells and compounds into the brain, leading to inflammation, potential brain damage, and many of the neurological symptoms Covid-19 patients experience. Jacobson told me, “It is a reasonable hypothesis that many of the neurological symptoms in Covid-19 could be due to an excess of bradykinin. It has been reported that bradykinin would indeed be likely to increase the permeability of the blood-brain barrier. In addition, similar neurological symptoms have been observed in other diseases that result from an excess of bradykinin.” Increased bradykinin levels could also account for other common Covid-19 symptoms. ACE inhibitors — a class of drugs used to treat high blood pressure — have a similar effect on the RAS system as Covid-19, increasing bradykinin levels. In fact, Jacobson and his team note in their paper that “the virus… acts pharmacologically as an ACE inhibitor” — almost directly mirroring the actions of these drugs.
By acting like a natural ACE inhibitor, Covid-19 may be causing the same effects that hypertensive patients sometimes get when they take blood pressure–lowering drugs. ACE inhibitors are known to cause a dry cough and fatigue, two textbook symptoms of Covid-19. And they can potentially increase blood potassium levels, which has also been observed in Covid-19 patients. The similarities between ACE inhibitor side effects and Covid-19 symptoms strengthen the bradykinin hypothesis, the researchers say. ACE inhibitors are also known to cause a loss of taste and smell. Jacobson stresses, though, that this symptom is more likely due to the virus “affecting the cells surrounding olfactory nerve cells” than the direct effects of bradykinin.
Though still an emerging theory, the bradykinin hypothesis explains several other of Covid-19’s seemingly bizarre symptoms. Jacobson and his team speculate that leaky vasculature caused by bradykinin storms could be responsible for “Covid toes,” a condition involving swollen, bruised toes that some Covid-19 patients experience. Bradykinin can also mess with the thyroid gland, which could produce the thyroid symptoms recently observed in some patients. The bradykinin hypothesis could also explain some of the broader demographic patterns of the disease’s spread. The researchers note that some aspects of the RAS system are sex-linked, with proteins for several receptors (such as one called TMSB4X) located on the X chromosome. This means that “women… would have twice the levels of this protein than men,” a result borne out by the researchers’ data. In their paper, Jacobson’s team concludes that this “could explain the lower incidence of Covid-19 induced mortality in women.” A genetic quirk of the RAS could be giving women extra protection against the disease.
The bradykinin hypothesis provides a model that “contributes to a better understanding of Covid-19” and “adds novelty to the existing literature,” according to scientists Frank van de Veerdonk, Jos WM van der Meer, and Roger Little, who peer-reviewed the team’s paper. It predicts nearly all the disease’s symptoms, even ones (like bruises on the toes) that at first appear random, and further suggests new treatments for the disease. As Jacobson and team point out, several drugs target aspects of the RAS and are already FDA approved to treat other conditions. They could arguably be applied to treating Covid-19 as well. Several, like danazol, stanozolol, and ecallantide, reduce bradykinin production and could potentially stop a deadly bradykinin storm. Others, like icatibant, reduce bradykinin signaling and could blunt its effects once it’s already in the body.
Interestingly, Jacobson’s team also suggests vitamin D as a potentially useful Covid-19 drug. The vitamin is involved in the RAS system and could prove helpful by reducing levels of another compound, known as REN. Again, this could stop potentially deadly bradykinin storms from forming. The researchers note that vitamin D has already been shown to help those with Covid-19. The vitamin is readily available over the counter, and around 20% of the population is deficient. If indeed the vitamin proves effective at reducing the severity of bradykinin storms, it could be an easy, relatively safe way to reduce the severity of the virus. Other compounds could treat symptoms associated with bradykinin storms. Hymecromone, for example, could reduce hyaluronic acid levels, potentially stopping deadly hydrogels from forming in the lungs. And timbetasin could mimic the mechanism that the researchers believe protects women from more severe Covid-19 infections. All of these potential treatments are speculative, of course, and would need to be studied in a rigorous, controlled environment before their effectiveness could be determined and they could be used more broadly.
Covid-19 stands out for both the scale of its global impact and the apparent randomness of its many symptoms. Physicians have struggled to understand the disease and come up with a unified theory for how it works. Though as of yet unproven, the bradykinin hypothesis provides such a theory. And like all good hypotheses, it also provides specific, testable predictions — in this case, actual drugs that could provide relief to real patients. The researchers are quick to point out that “the testing of any of these pharmaceutical interventions should be done in well-designed clinical trials.” As to the next step in the process, Jacobson is clear: “We have to get this message out.” His team’s finding won’t cure Covid-19. But if the treatments it points to pan out in the clinic, interventions guided by the bradykinin hypothesis could greatly reduce patients’ suffering — and potentially save lives.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
I've played about 3 events that have had about 8 people each and it's been a good experience. I think that the Zendikar Rising prereleases should be a good idea of how many people are willing to be in large groups to play Magic right now, as they are usually quite popular events. I plan on registering for the ones I wanna play just to be safe and get the spots I want just in case. I'd like to play on on the Friday (the 18th) and 2 on the Saturday (the 19th)
I've played about 3 events that have had about 8 people each and it's been a good experience. I think that the Zendikar Rising prereleases should be a good idea of how many people are willing to be in large groups to play Magic right now, as they are usually quite popular events. I plan on registering for the ones I wanna play just to be safe and get the spots I want just in case. I'd like to play on on the Friday (the 18th) and 2 on the Saturday (the 19th)
Almost half of Zendikar Rising has already been spoiled and it's really looking like a very under powered set If you ignore the Fetchland reprints and Lotus Cobra which is actually a good thing for Standard since the last few format legal sets have been pretty OP as of late. A lot of the new Rares and Mythics don't excite me as much similar to how I felt with Ikoria which is rather strange especially since it was the one Standard legal set that was mostly impacted by the pandemic unless you played on Arena like everyone else seeing firsthand just how broken Companion was. How was having an automatic 8th card in your starting hand ever a good idea? Looking at you Lurrus of the Dream-Den.
A severely under powered set isn't a very good sign If you're trying to get In-Person Pre-Release Events to fire at the Local Game Stores within your vicinity. Making the Fetchlands Expeditions again was a mistake when they could've been widely available in Commander Legends or Modern Horizons 2 (again why only Enemy Fetches?) instead of only being available as box toppers and in Collector's Edition packs which will only drive the price of these cards even more. If Wizards of the Coast ever does decide to get rid of the Reserve List (which they legally can't unless they break up with Hasbro) then the reprints are going to get the Expedition / Invention / Lottery Card treatment mark my words.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
With the October 15th deadline already here, Wizards of the Coast has decided to push the goalpost further of keeping All In-Store Play Suspended at least until November 11th following the Take Home Pre-Release for Commander Legends. This means that Local Game Stores (LGSs) are still unable to host and run In-Person Events due to the ongoing pandemic while players can still show up to play EDH / Commander and other formats casually among their local playgroups.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
I think that they made the safest call tbh. I don't know what it's like in the US rn(but assuming bad if it warranted extending the suspension on in store play) but it's been getting worse in Canada for just over a month I'd say. I can't see in store events happening on a large basis until at least halfway through next year and that's just for small level events. Magic Fests and in person Players Tours are probably out of the question until probably 2022 at the earliest and that's assuming they figure out who will run them
I think that they made the safest call tbh. I don't know what it's like in the US rn(but assuming bad if it warranted extending the suspension on in store play) but it's been getting worse in Canada for just over a month I'd say. I can't see in store events happening on a large basis until at least halfway through next year and that's just for small level events. Magic Fests and in person Players Tours are probably out of the question until probably 2022 at the earliest and that's assuming they figure out who will run them
I'm not sure If it's like this for other people however I've started noticing that some Local Game Stores (LGSs) while In-Store Play is suspended as far as running events and tournaments go that they perceived it as suspending casual play as well which does have the potential to hurt their business in the long run If they primarily sell Paper Magic with little to no overhead. If these businesses do have large overhead and they also suspended casual play along with events then they're going to run out of money unless they replace the overhead to sell more merchandise in place of potential customers who would normally be playing at their store where as with the owners' perspective it's about less risk of infection from COVID as possible but the question is for how long? They must be thinking about how COVID will impact 3rd and 4th Quarter sales in 2020 or 1st and 2nd Quarter earnings in 2021.
Even If you're not allowed to run events at your store you still need money to pay rent since the owners and employees work paycheck-to-paycheck and eventually the landlord still needs to be paid $1,000 bare minimum each month in order for the LGS to stay in business and I think it really depends on how much money they made on Paper Magic Pre-COVID compared to how little they may be making Post-COVID. If they're making little without expanding their business portfolio then of course they need to allow casual play at their store despite the infection risks since events are temporarily suspended due to the pandemic otherwise they aren't going to be able to stay in business for very long even with e-commerce sales alone. I haven't seen anyone at the LGS I frequent on Saturdays test positive for COVID-19 from allowing casual play.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
America Bless Christ Jesus
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Also Wizards of the Coast recently announced a few days ago that they're pushing the current In-Store Play Suspension due to the ongoing pandemic til January 2021. So it's looking as though both Commander Legends and Kaldheim will both be Take Home Pre-Releases similar with Core Set 2021 and Zendikar Rising. Wizards of the Coast also mentioned that they will be keeping tabs on the state of In-Store Play on the second Wednesday of every month as they will make official announcements on those dates regardless of whether or not they choose to take action at that time. I meant to post this a few days ago but was exhausted from work and tweaking EDH / Commander decks.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
America Bless Christ Jesus
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Okay, despite there being no Virus here apparently FNM has died at my LGS. 1 Zendikar draft in a Month. Apparently, people just bought boxes of set-boosters then the chase card of the set got banned and no one seems to care about the set anymore.
I don't really know what to make of it, because it isn't related to the pandemic, unless there is a sort of delayed effect of running out of money or perhaps people are just going to parties and travelling because we can.
Maybe WotC have achieved their goal and killed all formats that are not commander? Since you can play Standard and Limited on Arena.
Hasbro sales for the third quarter were pretty interesting (see "Big Gains in Hasbro Gaming in Q3"). Total sales for the company are up 11% for the year, including a 19% drop in April , May, and June (see "Hasbro's Total Gaming Sales Down 19% in Q2"), and a 40% increase in WotC sales in the first quarter (see "Hasbro's Total Gaming Business Up 40% in Q1"). D&D sales for the third quarter are up about 20% and Magic sales are up "double digits" , although the company did not specify what percentage of those revenues came from digital sales of the product line.So looking pretty impressive so far for the year and, based on the interest showing in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything and Commander Legends, not to mention Commander Legends Green (see "Preview: 'Magic: the Gathering' 'Commander Collection: Green'"), I expect to see Hasbro/WotC closing out the year up by double digits. So what can we conclusions or inferences can we draw from this:
1. "Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play". Players of both Magic and D& D, as well as Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh!, as well as board games and miniatures games (Games Workshop's stock is up about 125% over the past year) keep buying products for their respective games. Here in Illinois, even with the epidemic and restrictions on groups getting together, our store is seeing sales on a par with 2019, and if we were not taking the hit from restrictions and people leery about going out, we would likely have seen a record setting year and I have heard similar stories from other stores. Players appear to have migrated to at-home play as well as play on platforms such as Discord and RollD20. I also find it interesting that, despite. as I pointed out last week the increase in online sales (see "Rolling For Initiative -- Getting in the Spirit Again"), our store is seeing steady, socially-distanced foot traffic during the summer and throughout the fall.
2. Organized Play. Despite the importance that WotC, The Pokemon Company, and Konami put on Organized Play, the lack of it in the short term, does not appear to have hurt Magic and D&D and Pokemon sales (Yu-Gi-Oh! on the other hand, has taken a hit with the lack of Organized Play, again for the foreseeable future, as, without tournaments, our foot traffic of Yu-Gi-Oh! players has dwindled to next to nothing, save for the release of really anticipated products such as Maximum Gold (see " Konami Reveals New Premium Gold Rare Set for 'Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG'"). Despite the ability to play in sanctioned tournaments, players have kept up a steady demand for premium and limited Magic releases such as Mystery Boosters, Double Masters, and Jumpstart. Daily, we get calls or messages for the above. Customers buy packs and booster boxes daily and weekly despite not having any Organized Play events in which to participate. It appears players have not only moved their play in home but WotC was correct in creating the Set boosters, as players still embrace the pack opening experience.
Is this a long term change in the OP dynamic? How will this affect stores built around the OP model? If OP does not come back soon, do stores built to serve it transition to a different model? Let me know what you think by emailing castleperilousgames@gmail.com
The notion that ALL players moved their play at home instead of the Local Game Store (LGS) is a false assessment on ICv2's part. I get that most of these stores are built around the Organized Play model of hosting events but that shouldn't be their only source of income when there's still a demand for Casual Play at Local Game Stores (LGSs). The problem is that most of MTG's competitors with Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokémon TCG are built solely around competitive formats with no real avenue for casual like MTG does with EDH / Commander. The reason why sales are still doing well for these Paper Trading Card Games / Collectible Card Games is because players still have a place to play instead of being forced to play at their friends house during a pandemic. Some of my friends have already started doing that while visiting other LGSs within our vicinity.
If Local Game Stores (LGSs) are forced to transition toward a different business model away from Organized Play due to the ongoing pandemic then what do you think it would look like? Personally I still believe play space / overhead is still important to play with these products otherwise there would be no reason to spend money on this hobby anymore given how unforgiving the Secondary Market is. The only return we get out of a hobby like this is by having fun aside from competing for prizes but it's not the "end all be all" If you know where I'm getting at. The notion that there's no longer a need for the Local Game Store (LGS) as far as the social experience goes is utter nonsense IMO. My LGS doesn't enforce 6 or 12 feet social distancing because of the ongoing mask mandate and so far we've had no reported cases of COVID-19 among our customers.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
I'd like to see more stores running events over arena or mtgo, through many of the platforms they can use for pairings. I don't see it as much now that stores are allowed open but when lockdowns were really strict, many stores were running events online
A realistic timetable for a modern vaccine is two years not a decade, including all three trial stages. It was "rushed" this time because it is literally to combat a global pandemic that has a lethality of over 2.2%, and as such more resources were allocated to allow for a larger number of subjects than normal during the tests. It is literally the same with each of the 56 COVID-19 vaccines currently in phase three of testing, and the 20 additional ones in stage two. Rushing vaccines through testing by increasing the number of subjects involved in each phase is nothing new. The same was done when they feared Ebola would become a pandemic, as well as SARS and the Avian Flu (that turned out to be less harmful than the regular flu).
Speaking of the Flu, the testing period for the yearly Flu vaccine is only around 6 months. Vaccines aren't tested for a decade, because that would make them completely and utterly useless. For non-lethal diseases or diseases with very low mortality rate, it is usually around one to one and a half years. The timing of Pfizer CEO's sale of stock was unfortunate, but understandable. But I don't believe it is anything other than a coincidence. Tolarian Community College's interview with DeQuan Watson a.k.a. PowrDragn (which you may remember from Pojo's Famous Card of the Day reviews from way back when) on YouTube shed a bit more light on COVID-19's impact on Paper Magic going forward which kind of gives a somewhat optimistic viewpoint:
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
bit of updates in regards to covid and MTG. a few weeks ago, Wizards extended the in store ban yo January 13th and also added Canada to it. so I haven't been able to play in a bit.
Also, the province I live in Ontario is having a province wide lockdown effective boxing day, so stores will not be able to have people inside the store. I'm gonna be looking into curbside pickup options until the lockdown is over, but it'll be 28 days this time around
I pretty much only play with cousins who live in nearby houses these days. Too risky playing with strangers.. corona is still on the rise here in my country. We're playing modern "tribal wars", we have our fun little meta. hehe
In regards to the recent rollout of the Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines especially here in the United States where I'm from I'm deeply concerned with how possible vaccine mandates will impact us players to where If we refuse to take it that we would end up losing our jobs to where we can no longer be able to keep up with Paper Magic by having to liquidate everything. Either that or run the risk of taking the vaccine regardless of potential side effects such as headache, body fatigue, and the one side effect that I find unlikely among most people who've already taken the shot being cerebral palsy. I know there's been a lot of false rumors going around the internet lately about the vaccine potentially altering human DNA which turned out not to be true especially the use of nanotechnology with microchip implants which have recently been debunked by many credible doctors and nurses around the globe and since humanity won't achieve gene therapy for at least another century that gives me a sigh of relief.
I do see a few plausible scenarios. For those who take the vaccine don't need to wear a face mask while those who don't take the vaccine will have to continue wearing a face mask while limiting themselves from others as much as possible via social distancing 6 or 12 feet which in of itself is an oxymoron. I also don't believe that it should be up to Health Departments to enforce vaccine mandates or immunizations for COVID-19 when it should be a choice. If someone doesn't want to take the vaccine especially If they have a religious objection toward it then they SHOULD have every right NOT to take it. Getting immunized with your consent is one thing but without it I consider as tyranny as it violates the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution despite not protecting people from private entities / corporations like the government does. Constitutional rights unfortunately have no bearing when it comes to private entities / corporations like it does with government. There was even a U.S. Supreme Court case awhile back tackling this issue.
As for how this would affect Paper Magic, If we see more players who are unemployed, furloughed, or laid off as a result of not complying with their local Health Departments by not getting immunized or vaccinated for COVID-19 sometime by mid March or April of 2021 which is when the vaccines should be widely available to the general public at that time then expect to see more Local Game Stores (LGSs) go out of business and shutting their doors down for good. It would also be the death knell for Organized Play unless they force players to get immunized or vaccinated as an admission fee especially If your Local Game Store (LGS) says you can't buy or sell products unless you get immunized or vaccinated for COVID-19. Almost sounds like a certain scripture in the bible but I'm not going to get into that right now. Thing is experts estimate at least 70% of the U.S. population needs to be vaccinated in order to achieve herd immunity or at which enough people are protected that the virus can be held in check.
We don't even know how long the effects of these vaccines will last whether If it's 5 years or longer without an annual shot similar to the seasonal flu. Even though it was rushed to combat the pandemic with a fatality rate of 2.2%, the speed and scale of what's happening now could just be a prelude to the chance discoveries that we'll have to make over a longer period. Bottom line: You can't scream a cure out of a test tube. I think people are in too much of a rush for life to get as normal as it was pre-COVID or close to it at least. I understand the grim death toll of 300,000+ but still patience is a virtue. Facing the prospect of potentially losing my job of 18 years working at a Supermarket for refusing to take a vaccine that we don't even know is safe is troublesome as my mother threatened to send me to a psychiatrist for my disobedience. I even warned her not to take the vaccine in fear of what it could do to her but she didn't care. Then again I've been vaccinated for chicken pox when I was younger however recent advancements in technology has me deeply concerned.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
I am about as conservative as it gets and I don't understand this fear of vaccines at all that comes from this side of the political spectrum. You have a lot more to worry about in life than if a vaccine is going to give you side effects. Requiring a vaccination for employment doesn't infringe on personal liberties in my book as long as it is paid for by the employer. I would have loved to have had the Chicken Pox (Varicella) vaccination when I was a child. It didn't exist at that time. I got Chicken Pox as a 3 year old. I then proceeded to get Shingles 42 years after that. It wasn't fun. Vaccinations are not evil, they are not the government trying to implant microchips or give us diseases. They are for the common good. Any manufacturer that knowingly and willingly produces a vaccine with intent to harm the populace will be found out and sued into non existence. It won't happen and if it does that company is done, over and gone.
Back to the topic, the vaccine is going to get us back to normal. The quicker the better. Playing Magic in person will be the icing on the cake.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Playing since 1994: Currently MAGS (HomeBrew),Standard & Pauper (Pioneer and Modern are degenerate trash formats)
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
There is the problem. If the vaccine was developed by the government and not a privately owned company then yes I would be more hesitant to use it. That isn't the case with covid. It is being developed and tested by outside companies, Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson, etc. If they screw it up they 1. don't get paid and 2. get sued into oblivion I may not like the way the USA is being run at the current time, but there isn't any other country on the planet that I would trust more. Sorry your government failed the Philipino people. In the end its up to citizenry to root out the corrupt and evil. All vaccines are not bad. Research and do what you have to do. Best wishes. I am not afraid in the least to get a covid vaccine at this point here in the US. The sooner the better.
From the article...
As of August 2019, over 600 people (mostly children) that had received at least a single dose of the vaccine had died,[6] though not necessarily caused by the vaccine
Dengvaxia is approved for sale in 19 countries, including the European Union and the United States, and has saved an estimated 1 million lives.[1
I like those odds. How many of those children had underlying health conditions?
Lastly, I am not trying to belittle anyone who has founded vaccination concerns. What I am trying to do is show that a vast majority of the time the concern is irrational. And I am veering way off topic, we need to get back to discussing MTG.
Playing since 1994: Currently MAGS (HomeBrew),Standard & Pauper (Pioneer and Modern are degenerate trash formats)
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
All "old" people 50+ should absolutely get the vaccine, for them it makes sense in every regard.
For much younger people its much more questionable if theres any conceivable danger for them at all, so the side effects "could" outweight that.
----
In the end, nothing will matter, private companies will simply force every to get the vaccine, simply by demanding it to get their services (and if there is no alternative for non-vaccinated people, they will be driven to comply by that alone).
If we suddenly get a mutated strain that the vaccine does not work against, the entire show starts anew , and we are basically right back to the start.
It might end up as a never ending eternally mutating strain, just like the basic flu , if that becomes reality, i would be inclined to much more just accept it from being part of our live and accept every death and victim that comes form it (as nothing we do might actually "totally" beat the virus for good, and a never ending lock down is much more damage in comparison).
----
Next 3 months might show a lot, if the mutated virus goes rampant again, i will hate my own existence like anybody else does and the protests will increase for sure (theres simply no way this scenario will play out for more than 2+ years and people will forever encase themselves in permanent masks, thats just not going to happen and people wont allow it to happen no matter what).
While I understand wanting to discuss the vaccine that is now somewhat available to everyone, please keep discussions to Magic and the impacts of covid on stores/in store play
I am about as conservative as it gets and I don't understand this fear of vaccines at all that comes from this side of the political spectrum. You have a lot more to worry about in life than if a vaccine is going to give you side effects. Requiring a vaccination for employment doesn't infringe on personal liberties in my book as long as it is paid for by the employer. I would have loved to have had the Chicken Pox (Varicella) vaccination when I was a child. It didn't exist at that time. I got Chicken Pox as a 3 year old. I then proceeded to get Shingles 42 years after that. It wasn't fun. Vaccinations are not evil, they are not the government trying to implant microchips or give us diseases. They are for the common good. Any manufacturer that knowingly and willingly produces a vaccine with intent to harm the populace will be found out and sued into non existence. It won't happen and if it does that company is done, over and gone.
Back to the topic, the vaccine is going to get us back to normal. The quicker the better. Playing Magic in person will be the icing on the cake.
The idea of the vaccine getting us back to "normal" seems to only be wishful thinking at this point. I don't see how anyone expects Paper Magic to survive a Black Swan Event, health officials vaccinating / immunizing 70% of the general U.S. population, and still expect massive turnouts for small events at Local Game Stores (LGSs). Also I don't see the utility of Paper Magic in Standard in particular because it's not collectible, there's too much of it, and it's just not valuable when you look at the different versions of it. Outside of it the cheapest versions will sell including the most expensive versions while everything else is not sellable because your playerbase is either going to get the most expensive version of that one card, I mean some cards have six to seven different versions of them, that's insane like the regular, the foil, the showcase foils and non-foils, box toppers, etc. and it's a place where most players wouldn't want to be in especially inventory management and what you stock or what don't Local Game Stores stock. It's just getting out of hand really fast so I don't know If we'll see it get any better or not.
I don't know If we'll ever see In-Person Standard again so why would you want Paper versions of cards you can already obtain on MTG Arena when you can't really use them other than for EDH / Commander and maybe Pioneer? You can't draft them, can't go to Pre-Release, and considering how long the pandemic lasts there's going to be some residue and the residue is that even If everyone is vaccinated / immunized and COVID-19 is over and done with, essentially there will always be a risk of COVID-20 or whatever new global pandemic ends up replacing the current one. Overall people won't be going to their LGS to play Paper Magic post-COVID. If you're buying Paper Magic cards right now are you using them for FNM? Are you drafting them at your LGS? Probably not. COVID-19 is really out of hand right now especially since it just mutated into a new contagious strain recently discovered in Colorado and California originating from the U.K. so we don't even know If the Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines will be able to keep it under control. Oh sure everyone will get vaccinated / immunized until the next pandemic rears it's ugly head.
Everything that's Standard legal right now in Paper Magic is practically unplayable during COVID-19 minus a few EDH / Commander staples here and there. In some countries around the world they might have small In-Person events at Local Game Stores for Paper Magic but as for the U.S. most of these stores are closed or on the verge of bankruptcy. By the time you're actually able to play In-Person Paper Magic in Standard at your Local Game Store, rotation will have already hit as you've wasted a crap ton of money on faulty paper products that Wizards of the Coast cannot publicly expose especially with the foils continuing to curl. No one even played Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths because most of the stores running Standard events at the time weren't even allowed to host them during the height of the pandemic back in March 2020. Think about how unhygienic MTG players are and then throw in a global pandemic with a fatality rate of 2.2% which is now slightly more contagious than ever like 9 months or so. There's a much greater risk of getting COVID-19 at your Local Game Store. I'm not being prestigious, I'm just saying that this is probably true.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
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I think that'll depend on one thing: schools.
Schools will be back in session in the next five weeks, and given the piss-poor plans to reopen them, outbreaks are inevitable. Despite rhetoric to the contrary, kids aren't immune and can serve as convenient spreaders, and reopening schools without the resources to do so safely just so parents can get back to work and the economy can look better in time for elections later in the fall is doomed to failure. Once that happens, the smartest play would be to go back into lockdown, with nonessential businesses like LGSs being closed again. I don't know if Zendikar events will be able to run, or if they'll be safe to attend if they do. A spike in cases due to schools opening again that doesn't become apparent until October may not trigger lockdowns that disrupt prereleases, but that might even be worse in some ways.
One way or another, though, LGSs are going to get rolled. Either by a new lockdown, or by decreased sales/play. Even if, by some miracle, there are no outbreaks related to schools (though kid-related outbreaks are already happening, and they had similar issues overseas when countries opened schools again), the pandemic isn't going away and a second wave is predicted in the US and Canada.
Leaders in failed states don't care about people, just siphoning off as much value as they can while they still can.
Though, that does impact MtG as people aren't going to have as much disposable income and many will need to prioritize what they spend their limited resources on. Last I checked, the Senate took a recess rather than figure out what to do in regards to supporting people out of work or experiencing a drop in income due to covid. And the impending eviction crisis will compound that with tens of millions at risk of losing their homes. I don't find it illogical that luxury products sales will suffer.
Did MtG sales dip through the spring? Are sales rebounding this summer with things reopening? I've seen conflicting reports (evidently Q1 revenues were up, but covid really only struck in the last slice of that quarter so Q2 sales will be the better datapoint). Q3 may see that uptick with reopens shifting perception, but I do wonder how the unemployment and housing crises may have blunted the MtG sales recovery.
Do you think that passes the smell test? Demon sperm, my dude, demon sperm. And whatever scientific arguments they tried to make have been thoroughly debunked.
Archatmos
Excellion
Fracture: Israfiel (WBR), Wujal (URG), Valedon (GUB), Amduat (BGW), Paladris (RWU)
Collision (Set Two of the Fracture Block)
Quest for the Forsaken (Set Two of the Excellion Block)
Katingal: Plane of Chains
My local store got 4 boxes of Jumpstart at release out of 32 ordered. Promised to get 40 week two. In last two weeks, they have gotten zero.
Meantime, Walmart/Targets have been getting 30-50 per store.
The question brought up, do they send to big box stores since they know they can pay, but deprive LGS of the ability to make sales Resulting in failure?
With no tournaments, sales limited, but without product, no sales.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Indeed. Like I said, I think the overall picture from Q2 matches what we should have expected given the tens of millions in America alone unemployed (or otherwise seeing a reduction in income) due to covid. That is likely to continue even if LGSs are open, sadly.
Archatmos
Excellion
Fracture: Israfiel (WBR), Wujal (URG), Valedon (GUB), Amduat (BGW), Paladris (RWU)
Collision (Set Two of the Fracture Block)
Quest for the Forsaken (Set Two of the Excellion Block)
Katingal: Plane of Chains
Buying / Selling card singles don't seem to be as much of an issue however the employees stopped displaying older MTG singles in their showcase while only displaying newer MTG cards protected with glass coverings. Didn't see any tables with plexiglass installed though there was plenty of hand sanitizer for customers to use at the store. The store used to have two computers to place orders and sell cards on their website however they condensed it to one computer while also making room for their 3D Printer for making character models and figures for D&D and other Role-Playing Games. I did manage to get a few EDH / Commander games in while selling $50 worth of cards to help support my Local Game Store (LGS). One of my friends brought over his HD flat screen TV to play Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Pokémon Sword & Shield on his Nintendo Switch. I think we had at least 15-20 people that day.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
That's right, it took months and the theory was only around since early July but there seems to have been drastic confirmation by Summit that COVID-19 works in a VERY unusual way we didn't initially expect. The best news: we already have the drugs tested and approved that can stop it from killing people who end up hospitalized with it!
Official Sources:
https://elifesciences.org/articles/59177
https://elemental.medium.com/a-supercomputer-analyzed-covid-19-and-an-interesting-new-theory-has-emerged-31cb8eba9d63 Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
A severely under powered set isn't a very good sign If you're trying to get In-Person Pre-Release Events to fire at the Local Game Stores within your vicinity. Making the Fetchlands Expeditions again was a mistake when they could've been widely available in Commander Legends or Modern Horizons 2 (again why only Enemy Fetches?) instead of only being available as box toppers and in Collector's Edition packs which will only drive the price of these cards even more. If Wizards of the Coast ever does decide to get rid of the Reserve List (which they legally can't unless they break up with Hasbro) then the reprints are going to get the Expedition / Invention / Lottery Card treatment mark my words.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
With the October 15th deadline already here, Wizards of the Coast has decided to push the goalpost further of keeping All In-Store Play Suspended at least until November 11th following the Take Home Pre-Release for Commander Legends. This means that Local Game Stores (LGSs) are still unable to host and run In-Person Events due to the ongoing pandemic while players can still show up to play EDH / Commander and other formats casually among their local playgroups.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Even If you're not allowed to run events at your store you still need money to pay rent since the owners and employees work paycheck-to-paycheck and eventually the landlord still needs to be paid $1,000 bare minimum each month in order for the LGS to stay in business and I think it really depends on how much money they made on Paper Magic Pre-COVID compared to how little they may be making Post-COVID. If they're making little without expanding their business portfolio then of course they need to allow casual play at their store despite the infection risks since events are temporarily suspended due to the pandemic otherwise they aren't going to be able to stay in business for very long even with e-commerce sales alone. I haven't seen anyone at the LGS I frequent on Saturdays test positive for COVID-19 from allowing casual play.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Also Wizards of the Coast recently announced a few days ago that they're pushing the current In-Store Play Suspension due to the ongoing pandemic til January 2021. So it's looking as though both Commander Legends and Kaldheim will both be Take Home Pre-Releases similar with Core Set 2021 and Zendikar Rising. Wizards of the Coast also mentioned that they will be keeping tabs on the state of In-Store Play on the second Wednesday of every month as they will make official announcements on those dates regardless of whether or not they choose to take action at that time. I meant to post this a few days ago but was exhausted from work and tweaking EDH / Commander decks.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
I don't really know what to make of it, because it isn't related to the pandemic, unless there is a sort of delayed effect of running out of money or perhaps people are just going to parties and travelling because we can.
Maybe WotC have achieved their goal and killed all formats that are not commander? Since you can play Standard and Limited on Arena.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
The notion that ALL players moved their play at home instead of the Local Game Store (LGS) is a false assessment on ICv2's part. I get that most of these stores are built around the Organized Play model of hosting events but that shouldn't be their only source of income when there's still a demand for Casual Play at Local Game Stores (LGSs). The problem is that most of MTG's competitors with Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokémon TCG are built solely around competitive formats with no real avenue for casual like MTG does with EDH / Commander. The reason why sales are still doing well for these Paper Trading Card Games / Collectible Card Games is because players still have a place to play instead of being forced to play at their friends house during a pandemic. Some of my friends have already started doing that while visiting other LGSs within our vicinity.
If Local Game Stores (LGSs) are forced to transition toward a different business model away from Organized Play due to the ongoing pandemic then what do you think it would look like? Personally I still believe play space / overhead is still important to play with these products otherwise there would be no reason to spend money on this hobby anymore given how unforgiving the Secondary Market is. The only return we get out of a hobby like this is by having fun aside from competing for prizes but it's not the "end all be all" If you know where I'm getting at. The notion that there's no longer a need for the Local Game Store (LGS) as far as the social experience goes is utter nonsense IMO. My LGS doesn't enforce 6 or 12 feet social distancing because of the ongoing mask mandate and so far we've had no reported cases of COVID-19 among our customers.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Speaking of the Flu, the testing period for the yearly Flu vaccine is only around 6 months. Vaccines aren't tested for a decade, because that would make them completely and utterly useless. For non-lethal diseases or diseases with very low mortality rate, it is usually around one to one and a half years. The timing of Pfizer CEO's sale of stock was unfortunate, but understandable. But I don't believe it is anything other than a coincidence. Tolarian Community College's interview with DeQuan Watson a.k.a. PowrDragn (which you may remember from Pojo's Famous Card of the Day reviews from way back when) on YouTube shed a bit more light on COVID-19's impact on Paper Magic going forward which kind of gives a somewhat optimistic viewpoint:
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Also, the province I live in Ontario is having a province wide lockdown effective boxing day, so stores will not be able to have people inside the store. I'm gonna be looking into curbside pickup options until the lockdown is over, but it'll be 28 days this time around
I pretty much only play with cousins who live in nearby houses these days. Too risky playing with strangers.. corona is still on the rise here in my country. We're playing modern "tribal wars", we have our fun little meta. hehe
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I do see a few plausible scenarios. For those who take the vaccine don't need to wear a face mask while those who don't take the vaccine will have to continue wearing a face mask while limiting themselves from others as much as possible via social distancing 6 or 12 feet which in of itself is an oxymoron. I also don't believe that it should be up to Health Departments to enforce vaccine mandates or immunizations for COVID-19 when it should be a choice. If someone doesn't want to take the vaccine especially If they have a religious objection toward it then they SHOULD have every right NOT to take it. Getting immunized with your consent is one thing but without it I consider as tyranny as it violates the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution despite not protecting people from private entities / corporations like the government does. Constitutional rights unfortunately have no bearing when it comes to private entities / corporations like it does with government. There was even a U.S. Supreme Court case awhile back tackling this issue.
As for how this would affect Paper Magic, If we see more players who are unemployed, furloughed, or laid off as a result of not complying with their local Health Departments by not getting immunized or vaccinated for COVID-19 sometime by mid March or April of 2021 which is when the vaccines should be widely available to the general public at that time then expect to see more Local Game Stores (LGSs) go out of business and shutting their doors down for good. It would also be the death knell for Organized Play unless they force players to get immunized or vaccinated as an admission fee especially If your Local Game Store (LGS) says you can't buy or sell products unless you get immunized or vaccinated for COVID-19. Almost sounds like a certain scripture in the bible but I'm not going to get into that right now. Thing is experts estimate at least 70% of the U.S. population needs to be vaccinated in order to achieve herd immunity or at which enough people are protected that the virus can be held in check.
We don't even know how long the effects of these vaccines will last whether If it's 5 years or longer without an annual shot similar to the seasonal flu. Even though it was rushed to combat the pandemic with a fatality rate of 2.2%, the speed and scale of what's happening now could just be a prelude to the chance discoveries that we'll have to make over a longer period. Bottom line: You can't scream a cure out of a test tube. I think people are in too much of a rush for life to get as normal as it was pre-COVID or close to it at least. I understand the grim death toll of 300,000+ but still patience is a virtue. Facing the prospect of potentially losing my job of 18 years working at a Supermarket for refusing to take a vaccine that we don't even know is safe is troublesome as my mother threatened to send me to a psychiatrist for my disobedience. I even warned her not to take the vaccine in fear of what it could do to her but she didn't care. Then again I've been vaccinated for chicken pox when I was younger however recent advancements in technology has me deeply concerned.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Back to the topic, the vaccine is going to get us back to normal. The quicker the better. Playing Magic in person will be the icing on the cake.
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
many people dead from faulty vaccine used by our government.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dengvaxia_controversy
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Want to play a UW control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?
Please come visit us at the Emeria Titan control thread
There is the problem. If the vaccine was developed by the government and not a privately owned company then yes I would be more hesitant to use it. That isn't the case with covid. It is being developed and tested by outside companies, Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson, etc. If they screw it up they 1. don't get paid and 2. get sued into oblivion I may not like the way the USA is being run at the current time, but there isn't any other country on the planet that I would trust more. Sorry your government failed the Philipino people. In the end its up to citizenry to root out the corrupt and evil. All vaccines are not bad. Research and do what you have to do. Best wishes. I am not afraid in the least to get a covid vaccine at this point here in the US. The sooner the better.
From the article...
I like those odds. How many of those children had underlying health conditions?
Lastly, I am not trying to belittle anyone who has founded vaccination concerns. What I am trying to do is show that a vast majority of the time the concern is irrational. And I am veering way off topic, we need to get back to discussing MTG.
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
For much younger people its much more questionable if theres any conceivable danger for them at all, so the side effects "could" outweight that.
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In the end, nothing will matter, private companies will simply force every to get the vaccine, simply by demanding it to get their services (and if there is no alternative for non-vaccinated people, they will be driven to comply by that alone).
If we suddenly get a mutated strain that the vaccine does not work against, the entire show starts anew , and we are basically right back to the start.
It might end up as a never ending eternally mutating strain, just like the basic flu , if that becomes reality, i would be inclined to much more just accept it from being part of our live and accept every death and victim that comes form it (as nothing we do might actually "totally" beat the virus for good, and a never ending lock down is much more damage in comparison).
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Next 3 months might show a lot, if the mutated virus goes rampant again, i will hate my own existence like anybody else does and the protests will increase for sure (theres simply no way this scenario will play out for more than 2+ years and people will forever encase themselves in permanent masks, thats just not going to happen and people wont allow it to happen no matter what).
WUBRG#BlackLotusMatterWUBRG
👮👮👮 #BlueLivesMatter 👮👮👮
I don't know If we'll ever see In-Person Standard again so why would you want Paper versions of cards you can already obtain on MTG Arena when you can't really use them other than for EDH / Commander and maybe Pioneer? You can't draft them, can't go to Pre-Release, and considering how long the pandemic lasts there's going to be some residue and the residue is that even If everyone is vaccinated / immunized and COVID-19 is over and done with, essentially there will always be a risk of COVID-20 or whatever new global pandemic ends up replacing the current one. Overall people won't be going to their LGS to play Paper Magic post-COVID. If you're buying Paper Magic cards right now are you using them for FNM? Are you drafting them at your LGS? Probably not. COVID-19 is really out of hand right now especially since it just mutated into a new contagious strain recently discovered in Colorado and California originating from the U.K. so we don't even know If the Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines will be able to keep it under control. Oh sure everyone will get vaccinated / immunized until the next pandemic rears it's ugly head.
Everything that's Standard legal right now in Paper Magic is practically unplayable during COVID-19 minus a few EDH / Commander staples here and there. In some countries around the world they might have small In-Person events at Local Game Stores for Paper Magic but as for the U.S. most of these stores are closed or on the verge of bankruptcy. By the time you're actually able to play In-Person Paper Magic in Standard at your Local Game Store, rotation will have already hit as you've wasted a crap ton of money on faulty paper products that Wizards of the Coast cannot publicly expose especially with the foils continuing to curl. No one even played Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths because most of the stores running Standard events at the time weren't even allowed to host them during the height of the pandemic back in March 2020. Think about how unhygienic MTG players are and then throw in a global pandemic with a fatality rate of 2.2% which is now slightly more contagious than ever like 9 months or so. There's a much greater risk of getting COVID-19 at your Local Game Store. I'm not being prestigious, I'm just saying that this is probably true.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta